“Elevation and Subsidence”

Abstract

THE canal which it is proposed to make, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Sea viâ the Dead Sea and Gulf of Akaba, will, if carried out, throw considerable light upon the theory discussed by Mr. J. Starkie Gardner in your issue of August 2 (p. 323). The low–lying area which this scheme would submerge occupies the greater part of the Jordan Valley, and extends some distance to the south of the Red Sea, where the depression is at least 1300 feet. If there is any truth in the theory which ascribes elevation and depression to the denudation of rock from one area and its accumulation upon another, the introduction of such an immense weight of water from the Gulf of Akaba into the Jordan Valley will cause considerable subsidence in its vicinity. To what extent this would be the case it is difficult to say, but even a slight subsidence would much facilitate the cutting of the Mediterranean end of the canal.